Sophie Ellis Bextor

After a brief stint fronting the indie band theaudience in the late '90s, Sophie rose to the top of the UK singles charts (much to Posh Spice's dismay) singing on the 2000 summer club hit "Groovejet (If This Ain't Love)." Her debut solo album, Read My Lips, spawned two more singles in the Top Ten, "Take Me Home" and "Murder on the Dancefloor."

Appeal

Sophie's elite upbringing at the hands of a wealthy family and the British private school system endowed her with an air of Victorian style prudishness, one that blends marvelously with her otherwise overt sexuality. The mixed messages that come from the combination of Sophie's haughty accent with its breathy admonishing tone and her contrasting sultry figure and coquettish grin are enough to drive a man into a heavy sweat.

And don't think that Sophie isn't aware of this -- this girl employs her sexiness at every given opportunity, keeping her male fans in a constant state of frenzy. When preparing her adaptation of Cher's disco hit "Take Me Home," Sophie took the liberty of spicing the lyrics up a bit, making the track more suited to her sex symbol image. While Cher had some issues with Sophie's adjustments, we can't say that we did -- listening to that song turns us into human play-doh.

Success

As much as we like Sophie, there's no escaping the reality that she's only been on the scene for a few years now. Even though she already has three hit singles under her belt, a ball of tinfoil would suffice to grab the attention span of British pop fans, sending Sophie the way of the All Saints or Spice Girls.

What Sophie has working in her favor in this regard is an uncanny knack for adjusting to the tastes of a fickle public. Few in her current fan base may realize that back in 1997, Sophie was fronting the indie band theaudience, pulling off the working-class routine flawlessly in spite of an elite upbringing. While the group died with the indie craze, Sophie merged smoothly into the electronica market, providing the vocals on the #1 hit "Groovejet."

Her next conquering ground was the pop audience, who immediately bowed down to two more catchy hit singles "Take Me Home" and "Murder on the Dancefloor." Add to this the great sales of her debut album, Read My Lips, and you realize that Polka could come storming back and Sophie would still be on top of the UK charts.

Sophie may have a firm grasp on the British public consciousness, but she has yet to extend her reign over to the other side of the pond. Her big transatlantic break could come in one of two forms this summer. Her latest single, "Get Over You," hit stores in the UK on June 10th, 2002, and its North American release should be forthcoming. And Sophie was in the running for a Brit Award for Best Female Solo Artist at the end of June, an accolade which, if attained, tends to launch the Queen's subjects into the international spotlight. Although Sophie didn't win, her nomination was enough to increase the chances of international recognition.

Sophie Ellis Bextor Biography

Sophie Ellis Bextor was born in April of 1979 in a hospital in West Middlesex, England, and raised in nearby Twickenham. Her parents both worked in the television industry; her father, Robin Bextor, as a producer and her mother, Janet Ellis, as the host of the children's show Blue Peter -- which made for a particularly unique upbringing for young Sophie.

pomp and circumstance

British celebrities ranked among family friends, and the Ellis-Bextor household frequently served as the set for program shoots. Yet, this fanfare aside, it should be noted that Sophie's childhood was not an altogether pleasant one.

Because of her mother's television status, Sophie was the object of ridicule at her private school, the prestigious Godolphin and Latymer. At the age of four, she witnessed her parents' messy divorce, and was later forced to adjust to their remarriages and the accompanying arrival of five new half-siblings.

building anaudience

From a young age, Sophie played the guitar and by her late teens, her musical interests had expanded to include singing. At age 17, Sophie met the musician Billy Reeves in a nightclub called Uncle Bob's Wedding Reception, and gave him one of her demo tapes. Impressed with her voice, Reeves invited Sophie to become the lead singer for an indie band he was starting, called theaudience, and her professional career began.

theaudience proved a fairly successful enterprise, enough to prompt Sophie to forego an opportunity to attend Queen Mary College at London University in favor of promoting the band's 1998 debut self-titled album. This first release was met with some critical acclaim, and two of its singles entered the UK Top 30 chart.

After rejecting an offer to play as the opening act on a 1998 Robbie Williams tour (a refusal that Williams didn't take well), the group's members began work on a second album, but bickering among them slowed production drastically. Soon the in-band feuding had escalated to such an extent that the group's label, Mercury Records, dumped them, and by 1999, theaudience was dead.

the race is on

Following the collapse of theaudience, Sophie spent a few months working as a print model, appearing in such magazines as Cosmopolitan and Company, as well as doing a topless spread in a pulp weekly. After then trying her hand at writing a novel (an attempt that did not extend beyond a few chapters), Sophie began looking to resume a music career, this time on her own.

In 2000, Sophie's publisher sent her a track from Italian DJ Christiano Spiller with an adjoining request that she supply the vocals and lyrics for it. The end result was "Groovejet (If This Ain't Love)," a song that became the British club anthem of the summer. The "Groovejet" single was slated for release in August of 2000, during the same week that witnessed the release of former Spice Girl, Victoria Beckham's debut solo single, Out of Your Mind.

The British tabloids capitalized on the opportunity to declare a "race to the top of the singles charts" and dedicated a host of columns to covering the purported animosity between the two singers. Regardless of how contrived it may have been, the additional press didn't hurt Sophie's visibility, and neither did "Groovejet"'s eventual emergence in the #1 spot on the UK Singles Charts.

read her lips

The outstanding success of "Groovejet" led Sophie to a deal with Polydor Records, and she immediately began working on her debut album. In August of 2001, the album's first single, a remake of Cher's "Take Me Home," was released, debuting at #2 on the Singles Charts. The album itself, Read My Lips, found its way into stores later that month, and the second single, "Murder on the Dancefloor," debuted at #2 in December of 2001.

All of Sophie's releases enjoyed good sales throughout that year, and her professional career was aided in great part by a public spotlight that seemed perpetually focused on her. Sophie has become the object of countless tabloid rumors, ranging from a supposed pregnancy to purported upcoming roles on Friends and the next James Bond film, most of which have been revealed as false.

Sophie's next single, "Get Over You," was released in the UK on June 10th, 2002, and she was seen on the Brit Awards later that month, where she was nominated for the Award for Best British Female Solo Artist (the award went to Dido). While a date has yet to be set for her second album, it remains nonetheless highly anticipated, thanks in great part to supposed collaborations with Moby, which weren't completed in time for her debut.

In contrast to the one presented in the British weeklies, Sophie's personal life remains fairly quiet. She currently resides in the Swiss Cottage neighborhood of North London with her DJ boyfriend of five years, Andy Bond.